Escaping Fire
by Magician'sValkyria1208
Summary: A strangely familiar yet unknown outlaw surfaces on Blue Heaven. They know who he is, but at the same time they dont. He needs to find his family, acceptance, a life of his own, not being quite human or Ctarl. R/R -NO Yaoi-
1. Tsuki No Le

Replacing Escaping The Fire, but based in the same AU, backstory will come later.

Disclaimer : I don't own Outlaw Star or Chrono Crusade, only Cade and any other unfamiliar characters

* * *

He stayed perched high on the black, wet wall. The cool mist of the evening would have been penetrating, but his father's thick cloak prevented the air from biting at his arms. It wasn't quite late yet, maybe a little past the evening meal time. He had stayed here, watching the bright lights of the city flicker, the people scurry through the rain across the sidewalks, but he only wandered as they did through the silences.

Home was far away, the warm true sunshine and soft moonlight of home didn't exist here. This was space, and the moon only looked like a graveyard with no tombstones from this distance. He was here because of fear. The fear of his own existence drove him here, not by his own mind, but another's.

Perhaps if he had never been born then nobody would fear him. Nobody would have tried to quell the fear by murdering him or his parents. Nobody would have tried to exile them in the first place if he hadn't existed. Maybe this really was his fault.

"_I can only hope that after a year, my mother's temper may have quelled a bit. I don't want her to come back from this exile and claw into me or my father…but she may have indulged in the latter already." _

He smirked to himself, his hood drawn over his eyes so that others wouldn't pay him any mind. The brown sugar tone of his skin would cause him to stand out here; Blue Heaven didn't see a lot of his kind. If they knew what he truly was, then he was sure that no one would be able to admit to meeting another like him. He wondered sometimes if he was the only one.

A clap of thunder and following rainfall followed his thoughts, and he jumped down the wall to the wet, puddle covered concrete beneath him. Earth had become too much concrete itself, but even here in space they had industrialized all the planets and colonies. He wandered into the small crowds of people walking, keeping his head down, his arms pulled close to him with a hand on the Caster attached to his belt. It was only a matter of time before…

… A piece of glass shattered underneath his shoes, and that's when he heard the gun fire behind him. Ducking swiftly and gracefully falling back into the alley, another bullet was fired in his direction and a voice followed it.

"Gene Starwind finally came back to Blue Heaven! Finally! Finally I'm going to avenge for the Kei Pirates!"

The masked character followed the flap of his cloak in the wind, and cornered him in the alleyway.

"Are you too old for this, Gene? Was it too much when you lost the Outlaw Star? When it was destroyed?"

He gritted his teeth at the improper address, his name was definitely NOT Gene.

"Gene Starwind will never be too old to take off heads of scum like you. The Kei Pirates…didn't you all fall apart and give up twenty years ago? Are you some lone survivor, with no life left? Disgusting."

He reached for the gun under his cloak, loading the barrel with his unseen hands.

"Poor, pathetic miserable outlaw!"

Bullets broke the brick and concrete wall behind him, and he moved his face enough into the street light so that the pirate could see the grin.

"You think I'm Gene Starwind, do you?"

One smooth movement and cock of a gun answered the silence that followed his own question. The three bullets fired answered the mumbling of the pirate, and one managed to hit its mark. The pirate fell to the ground, bleeding into the puddle of water.

"OUTLAW! You have to be Gene Starwind, they all told me you were here! You're going to die, you're not going to be the hero again!"

Cade took a few slow steps, putting the barrel to the pirate's scalp.

"Gene Starwind. The Legend. Too bad you're only half right"

He didn't fire, but used a solid blow to the head from the barrel to leave the pirate unconscious, and the outlaw who was half Gene Starwind started back down the road. The rain let up enough to let the street lights guide him a little better. There werent so many people on the streets now after the gunfire, so he continued to walk, in no specific direction to no really known place.

She should have watched for the puddle, because now this woman had run directly into him, and they both proceeded to take a nice, heavy fall.

"OOOHUHMPH!" Were the only legible sounds she made, but Cade almost clocked out, and his eyes seemed like spiraling pools for a minute. He was dizzy and a little disoriented, his cloak had come halfway off and his hood had fallen off his head, leaving the blinding street light to make it that much harder to recover from his head hitting the concrete.

"NO! Oh no! I'm so SORRY! So Sorry! Please, please, are you alright?!" Cade squinted at her, blinked his eyes a few time and darted back up, finding himself face to face with a beautiful woman, who had fallen on top of him. The blush in his face was unmistakable. They stared at each other for half a second, with confused faces before her eyes came into focus and she struggled back to her feet quickly.

"Oh goodness, i'm so very sorry, its so wet, and I! - " She fell again on a weak, possibly cracked ankle. Cade couldnt help but laugh at her misfortune lightheartedly.

"Maybe you need to be more careful miss..." He went to pick her up to carry her, but not before they both realized that his cloak and hood were laying on the ground, and his identity partially revealed.

"YOU! YOU'RE- You're!" She struggled against him and he darted out of the light.

"You're a Ctarl-Ctarl! What are you doing here!" Cade sighed and repressed the anxiety for a moment. At least she was cute.

"Well, you're only half right about that, Miss."


	2. Through The Night

* * *

She was genuinly frightened now. The Ctarl-Ctarl didn't always have the best reputation on primarily human planets, and she seemed to fit the stereotypical I'm-weaker-than-you-so-you-must-be-evil type, he needed to be careful.

"I...I...please...let me go...I wont tell anyone...please dont hurt me!" She attempted to squirm out of his grip and jump down, her 5 foot figure and his 6'2 seemed to be a bigger difference when she felt too high off the ground and hurt her ankle again while she mildly tried to escape. Cade held her firmly, not letting her try to run.

"Shhh. Be still miss, you're going to injure yourself more."  
She had never heard an accent like his before, nor seen such a human favoring Ctarl-Ctarl.

"Half right? If you're not a Ctarl, then what are you?"

He was silent, carrying her to a nearby bench. Without any words, he carefully began to makeshift splint her ankle. She watched intently, still incredibly nervous about being in the presence of a 'monstrous beast' known as a Ctarl Ctarl.

"What's your name, miss?"

She was a young woman, probably a little younger than Cade. Brunette, petite, and seemingly innocent in her waitress uniform.

"Rona? My name is Rona. What...What about you?"

He tied the splint into a small knot and smiled at her.

"Cade, and I never said you were wrong about my Ctarl heritage, just only half right." She stared into his eyes for a moment, and looked him over. He didn't look exactly like the pictures had said Ctarl-Ctarl were supposed to be like. His skin was only a light shade of mocha, instead of chocolate brown. His ears were long and tufted and feline, but his hair was dark red. He had small fangs and very slightly sharpened claws. He was handsome, and it almost seemed like she had seen him somewhere before...

"You should call someone to take you home, that ankle will be swollen for a few days." The young man stood and helped the girl stand herself, though she hobbled on one leg.

"Thank you. I don't understand why you went out of your way to help me, Cade. I appreciate it. I've never met a Ctarl Ctarl before either. Do you come out from your empire often? Is it so different from human colonies like this one?"

He shook his head. "I dont really know. I've never been anywhere in the Ctarl Ctarl Empire, I wasn't born there, so I'm not a citizen. I dont even think I could be a citizen, I'm half human. " Her surprise was evident in her face.

"I'm sorry for my reaction to you. I always heard the Ctarl creatures were monsters, that they were too strong." Cade shrugged, his mother would have taken offence to that comment, but he didn't care.

"Oddly enough, my father would have agreed with you and my mother would have probably transformed on the spot and gone on a rampage. Monster probably doesn't begin to describe her when she's angry or insulted."

Rona hobbled a little more, nearly falling until her strange hero caught her again. Why was he interacting with this girl? What purpose was there? He didnt entirely know why he had come across her, but he felt as if he needed to. She wasn't running away from him or screaming obscenities, maybe she was worth getting know only for that fact! Although, making friends here wasn't going to do him much good, he was too much of a threat to other people. If they had any idea of who he really was, well then...all hell would break loose.

She continued to cling to him, some stranger, and realized that she must not have had anyone that cared enough to take her home on a cracked ankle. He felt compelled, his parents had raised him to be a gentleman, and he had never had anyone to show this trait to before. He had been isolated for most of his childhood, except by a few other adults. He had plenty of 'family', which was all he truly needed, but it was a foreign feeling to approach a woman, to offer help to her that an upstanding gentleman would care to see to.

"Where do you live? I can see you there. Just be warned that it's dangerous around me, I need to get you back to your home as soon as possible." So she agreed silently with frightened eyes and as he bent down to his knees, she climbed onto his back.

"Do you, transform with the moon like other Ctarl-Ctarl? Can you do it at all?"

He shook his head and grunted. "I don't believe I can because I'm only half, but then again I've never tried. I don't really care to, it doesn't seem like it would be too useful in any situation i've been presented with so far." Rona was fascinated by this stranger and his experiences of living as two different races. For now, she directed him through the rain to the tiny studio she called home and he dropped her at her doorstep and turned to walk away, only waving his hand as a gesture of goodbye.

"I hope that you wont dissapear forever, Cade. Where's your home? Can I bring you some tea and food sometime?" The small hospitality was incredible to him, for someone who had never recieved it before. Of the two years that he had been on his own, a stranger girl who he had no identity of was treating him like an adult, while everyone else treated him like a lost child.

"I don't have a home here, miss. This isn't my home at all, I'm just a wanderer. I'm an outlaw, just like my father never wanted me to be." The innocent curiousity in her face melted away quickly, and she seemed a little unable of what to think of this man now.

"I'm only here searching for something, but I don't think I'm going to find it on Blue Heaven. Thanks for your kindness, You seem like a sweet girl." He smiled a little at her before dissapearing off into the darkness and soft splash of the rain on this planet's concrete sidewalks.

"I wonder if he could have been that famous Outlaw, Gene Starwind." Her words were spoken to the falling rain, with no expectant listeners. Yet, there were two anyways. Technically three, if God wanted to play a humerous role in Cade's life, He was doing so by listening, by allowing the other listener to be one who couldn't be trusted, and then Cade himself. The young half-Ctarl smiled a little at the thought of Gene Starwind.

"Hmm. Could I really resemble him that much? The legend Gene Starwind being compared to a little half breed like myself."- and he laughed to himelf- " Hopefully he would agree and have to laugh with me."

Cade stared up at the sky and slunk down against another brick wall, he pulled up his hood and wrapped it tightly around his shoulders and began to doze off, fondly thinking of the Outlaw Star and the adventures he wished he had been alive to see. Till tomorrow...

* * *

Cade's true identity to be revealed later, unless anyone wants to guess early. Maybe a few appearances by some other characters, or a crossover.


	3. Remember The Name

The night was too short, in Cade's opinion. He hadn't been able to get much rest, sleeping on the streets wasn't as easy as some outlaws claimed it to be. He wondered if Gene had ever had to live like this, or what his mother would say if she knew how he was surviving. She would have screamed, most likely. She would have told him that people of the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire were above rags and dust. Cade had never really identified himself with the people of the Ctarl race, but he couldn't very well deny his connection. His ears, those long, overly sensitive ears that gave his genetic identity away the moment that anyone saw them. He hated them some days, and some days they had saved his life with his heightened sense.

After washing up at the local bathhouse and hanging up his cloak, he stretched out in the sunlight. The sun here was much brighter; it was closer to the colony than the Milky Way's was to Earth. His violent encounter with the former pirate the night before worried him a bit, but he couldn't hold back the fondness in the thoughts of that brunette girl he had helped. He hoped that she was going to be alright with her minor injury, and maybe he would run into her again without having to worry about bringing danger with him.

_"The danger..."_

Cade clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. They had tried to kill him. Tried to kill his parents. Managed to hurt his friends, his neighbors, and his _family._ Whoever 'they' were, they had nearly ruined his life, and were doing a great job so far of making sure that he didn't get his chance at a normal adulthood.

Cade had just recently turned 19, and had been away from home for almost two years now. The house he grew up in wasn't on some extravagant Ctarl-Ctarl colony, or on a culture-rich lively city like Blue Heaven used to be. He had grown up on Earth. He had been the **only** half-Ctarl half-human being to ever be born and grow up on the planet Earth. That tiny town, that neighborhood, the brick red house with the rolling hills in the back yard.

_"Why do I bring so much danger with me?"_

His childhood home was beautiful. His family was beautiful. His parents had loved him, had provided for him and taught him. His family friends had been the extended family. The grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins that never actually existed. It wasn't perfect, but for a few moments as a blissfully ignorant child, it could have been.

Until he saw the place burn.

_"Until I heard my mother's screams."_

His parents had survived the ordeal, the original assassination and arson plot. The last time he saw them, they were alive, physically well. As of now, he wasn't 100% sure, but knowing them, they were out there somewhere. He just knew that somehow, his mother was still screaming his father's name, and the scars on his father's body were still healing. They had taken off into space.

They had given Cade everything they had, and names. Only names. Only tiny bits of information while they escaped to leave their son in a 'safer' environment, where he wouldn't be the target of the terroristic plots of what seemed like the work of the Kei, resurfaced. Hazanko had a lot of influence in his time, and from what Cade had heard, there could have easily been someone else to carry out the duty.

"_Melfina. James Hawking. Fred Lou. Hazanko. Hilda. The pirate guild. Suzuka._" These were the names he was left with. The people that would lead him right, even if he had no idea where they were or who they are. The only information that leads him to Blue Heaven is that his father had told him that this was the place where he had started his Outlaw journey.

Two years in space had given him few leads. Fred Lou was a wealthy businessman who didn't deal with people below him; there was no way to get to him. His location wasn't available to the public. Hawking Enterprises didn't exist anymore, Hazanko was dead, and there was no surname to find the women known as Melfina or Suzuka.

"Cade! Didn't you say that was your name?" The woman he had met yesterday known as Rona, had found him again. She wasn't walking correctly, her ankle was now bandaged and in a splint. "How are you doing? Do you stay on this side of town?"

He didn't really answer her, but walked back towards the line where his cloak had been drying in the sun.

"I wanted to ask you something, I think you're someone I've heard of before."

The Ctarl instincts kicked in, and his ears perked.

"Do you really? Who could you possibly think I am?"

She walked towards him and studied his face, it was awkward for him, his eyes were wide and cheeks pink.

"I think you're that Outlaw Gene Starwind, I've seen photos of him, you know. He was famous I hear. He had red hair like you; he looked a lot like you. You even dress like he does! Are you really him? Are you really that legendary person?"

Cade's blush intensified, and he shook his head.

"No. No no. I know who you're talking about. I'm not Gene Starwind! I'm Cade Hone Clan Clan!" He was frightened, He didn't need anyone else addressing him as Starwind, and he didn't want another pirate after him. It was going to be too much trouble already-

"I think you've told one too many fibs, Cade Clan-Clan Starwind." A voice from behind the corner, a few feet from where they were standing. Another Kei lackey? A black haired man with kanji carved into his arms pointed a gun at them, and Cade ripped his cloak off the clothesline, covering Rona.

"Bastard. Who are you? Another pirate? A mindless pirate who wants revenge against Gene Starwind!"

He couldn't reach for the Caster without being fired at. He couldn't dodge the shot without Rona taking it for him.

"You think I can't tell who you are? We've been watching you. Oh so deliciously waiting for an opportunity to take back what your father stole from us!"

Cade took a step back, and felt Rona's hand. She was edging closer to him. The pirate fired a rouge bullet into the wall, giving the Ctarl enough instinct to draw the Caster from its holster and aim.

"A caster! A caster gun! A caster gun killed the holiest, Hazanko! I should be honored!" The crazed pirates licked his lips and laughed. Cade knew the gun only had one shell in the barrel, the same shell that his father had left in it long before Cade had been born.

"DID YOU SAY YOUR NAME WAS CLAN-CLAN STARWIND?!" Another rouge voice from around the corner came from a blonde man with glasses, and his pistol was against the pirate's skull, and with a quick bash with the hard gunmetal, the pirate was dazed enough for Cade to run after him and pull Rona along.  
He ran as fast as he could drag the girl behind him, hoping that the pirate wasn't going to recover from the blow soon enough to catch the. The blonde man darted around the corner, and down another street, through an empty lot into a garage, and that's where Cade's adrenaline finally ran out, dropping the girl and almost falling to the ground himself.

"You...sir. Why did you....what the hell..." He was almost completely out of breath.

"I'll tell you that in a minute, boy. If you correct the pirate on your name. Is your surname really Clan-Clan Starwind? Tell me, you have to tell me!"

Cade was suddenly anxious again, not knowing if he could trust this person. Who was he? The blonde was medium height with a mechanic's build. He was late 20's, maybe thirty, with small reading glasses.

"No. No. My name is Cade Hone Clan-Clan! I'm a Ctarl-Ctarl!"

The man stroked his chin in thought. He was smiling, a wide grin across his face.

"That's all I need to know! I absolutely can't believe it! I can't! You're AISHA'S SON!"

The blood drained from Cade's face. "_Are you serious? Does this guy actually know who I am?"_

"Aisha..."

"THAT'S RIGHT! AISHA CLAN-CLAN!"

Cade found himself strangled in a hug by the blonde haired man, and felt extremely awkward again. "

"Uh....Hmm...Sir....Aisha Clan-Clan...how do you know her? Excuse me!" He weaseled out of the hug and rushed back to Rona, who was trying to get off the floor, her ankle more injured now from the running.

"Aisha. That beautiful Ctarl woman. She and I were great friends back in the day, you know. We went on a lot of adventures together."

"Then who are you?! How do you know AISHA?"

"I knew your mother when she was co-pilot on the Outlaw Star. You see, I'm Jim Hawking."


	4. Starwind & Hawking Enterprises

**"**Hawking and Starwind Enterprises. You co-owned it with Gene Starwind." Rona knew the names, even if she didn't really understand what Cade was talking about...

"You worked with Gene Starwind? Cade, did you know him?

Jim showed a big, wide grin. He walked closer to Cade, gaining a serious look. He stared into Cade's dark green eyes, looking over his facial features and his build.

"Yeah kid. I knew your parents. How're they doing? Any particular reason why the sent you all the way back up here to Blue Heaven?"

"That's a more in depth conversation. I'd prefer we didn't talk about it in the open." Jim had a bit of a serious expression on his face now, and he turned to walk away.

"Kid, come on into the shop. We'll talk."

Cade plucked Rona off the ground, carrying her in his arms to a couch in Jim's back office.

"I'll talk to you if you can help her, please. It's on my name that she's hurt again. I shouldn't have let her come near me." The brunette girl looked like she wanted to cry, but she broke her silence to offer some kind words.

"Please, it's alright Cade. You were a bit of a hero to me yesterday. I even hardly know you, how could I blame you?"

Jim called the clinic a few blocks away to come pick her up; they'd splint her ankle and bring her back in an hour with pain medication.

"You don't have to lie to me kid. I know who you are now. You can't deny it. You look just like him."

"I've been told that all my life. You obviously knew I was Aisha's son?"

"You've got her eyes. What'd you say your name was? Cade? Cade Clan-Clan or Starwind?"

Cade tensed, he had never openly admitted to who he truly was since he had been in space, where his parents were still famous all these years later.

"The Kei Pirates are after them again, so they turned me loose. Told me to run, to come back here and look for a few people that might be able to help me."

"I would hope Gene and Aisha had the sense to give you my name?"

He nodded and pulled the Caster off his belt, handing it to Jim.

"Cade Starwind, Hone' was my mother's family name that I've been using as a fake. Cade Aeon Starwind."

Jim smiled again and turned the gun over in his hands, feeling a sensation of nostalgia come over him.

"You're wearing Gene's cloak too? He's definitely a trademark guy. I would've expected him to give you the Caster. Where is the old crow now? Are he and your mom still back on Earth?"

"That's exactly why I came here with your name on a list, to search for. They took off into space just like I did, but I wasn't told where they were going. When they sent me off, I found that my house and everything we owned was sold or gone. Dad was a little skim on the information I got, but he said they'd come find me when they knew that I was finally safe. He said it was his fault, and the pirates still wanted back what he 'stole' from them."

"Hmmm...Maybe it's only a matter of time before I run into them myself. They wouldn't have gone as far as the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire, I don't think. Your mom relinquished her title as resident officer there before they ever left for Earth. They probably went back to get the XGP and find Melfina"

"Melfina? Another name my dad gave me. How important is she?"

"Melfina was the maiden of the Galactic Leyline. She was the navigational Bio-Android computer of the XGP Outlaw Star, the ship your father and I owned. It's a long story, kid. You got time?"

For a brief moment, Cade Starwind felt like a child again, waiting to hear a story for the first time from an uncle or grandfather. Jim easily relinquished the story, taking an hour or more to tell it, filling in all the details about Gene and himself meeting Aisha on Blue Heaven and _trying _to shoot her, only realizing that full blooded Ctarl-Ctarl's were immune to shells after she took the aftershock and went raging after them. He told them about Gene's escapade of cross dressing for the strongest woman in the universe contest, that Aisha ended up winning. The long trips across the galaxy, the space race, Melfina's cooking. Suzuka getting them out of a lot of tight spots, and their seemingly last battle on the front of the Galactic Leyline itself.

"It's weird you know, kid. You might have never been born. Melfina and your dad had a thing for a while, but she was too easily influenced by her 'destiny' of the Leyline. After we got out of there and tried getting back to normal lives, she got all, robot like. I knew she was part android, but she had been somewhat human to. She got real distant, didn't want anything to do with any of us after that. Your dad was heartbroken, and your mom felt rejected by the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire. They hadn't allowed her to come back home yet. So I guess that's when they said screw it, and they fell in love. Which led to you, didn't it?"

Cade pulled up his shirt sleeve to reveal a birthmark, the same that he shared with his mother. His arms were scarred like his father's, and his face held every bit of determination that either one of his parents had at his age. "Yeah, I guess you could say that, but I don't think mom and dad were planning on me."

Jim handed the Caster back to Cade and stood up from his chair, extending a hand.

"Well, I'm still young, and all three of my space harbor garages have been doing well enough without me at the helm. I'll leave my business partner in charge, I'll go with you and we'll find your parents. We'll even give those bastard Kei Pirates another swift ass beating." So Cade smiled, he saw the charm and smartass in Jim that his father had enjoyed about him.

"Only if you promise to try and find a photo of my dad's cross-dress escapade. I'll pay you good money for it." He shook on the deal, and now there was an established Starwind-Hawking partnership again.

Rona wobbled through the door a minute later, carrying a bill from the clinic. She looked as though she wanted to cry, and she immediately dove for Cade.

"Oh please! Please! Go back there and tell them to take the splint off of me! I can't pay this! 800 Wong just for my pain medicine! This is why I don't go to the doctor!" She wrapped her arms around him and cried hysterically into his shirt, leaving Cade to blush and feel incredibly awkward again, trying to calm the woman down.

"Relax baby cakes. I'll phone 'em and tell them to bill it to my business. What useful skills you got?" The girl perked up and immediately dove at Jim this time.

"Oh sir! I'm so grateful! Thank you so much! I...I'm a cook at the local diner! It's not much but it's all I've been able to do to pay my rent lately!" She was still a little hysterical, and Cade sighed with a bit of humor.

"Okay then, lovely. You're hired. You'll come with and I on an escape and cook for us, you up for it?"

Her eyes shined with huge stars and exaggerated tears.

"REALLY? CAN I?" So she proceeded to tell Jim and Cade everything about herself, squealing happily. "I'm Rona Alliete; I'm from Colony J-2 over by Sentinel III! Oh it's such a pleasure Mr. Hawking, ....WAIT."

In her dramatics, she turned back to Cade and pointed to him with a fierce stare.

"YOU TOLD ME YOU WEREN'T GENE STARWIND! LIAR!"

Cade's ears perked up and he backed away from her.

"You weren't here for all that information!"

Jim's excessively large grin returned. These two didn't seem to know too much about each other, but they had great chemistry.

"He's not Gene Starwind! I knew the old Gene Starwind, this lil' halfling is his son!"

Rona lowered her finger and looked confused for a moment. "Well, uhm. I mean, I guess I never asked that. That would explain why you look so much like him I guess....You're really his son?"

Cade nodded and helped her sit back down on the couch.

"I need to go think for a little while; I'll be back in a couple hours. Jim, do you mind if I crash here later?" The blonde nodded and waved him on, as he reached for Rona's pain medication to give her another dose. Maybe it would calm her hyperactivity down.

The half-Ctarl half-Outlaw walked out of the shop, pulling the hood of his cloak up over his head again, and he headed into the strip of Blue Heaven, looking for a body art shop. If people were going to insist that he was a Starwind, he might as well give them reason to believe.

And two hours later, Cade Aeon Starwind walked out of a shady tattoo shop with a bandage on his upper left arm, covering a large red and yellow star. The trademark his father was recognizable for.


	5. Beginning

The Kei Pirates began to heavily inhabit the colony in the past few years of absent justice. Shadows and shady eyes lurked around a lot of corners, and Cade had to be heavily guarded the few days following his meeting with Jim as to not draw attention to himself. Now two people knew exactly who he was. Two people knew he was the son of Gene Starwind and Aisha Clan-Clan. He wasn't really sure if this would be a disadvantage or not.

Jim had been extremely helpful. The man was a genius, and apparently had grown even more knowledgeable and clever since his days as an eleven year old space outlaw. He was going to be an immeasurable asset in solving this predicament of eliminating the pirates and their leading force.  
Rona was well, Rona. She had taken time out of her days to come spend with Cade, holding his hand as she lead him through the nice parts of the city, getting to know him, and completely fascinated by the few stories he had to tell her of his family and childhood on Earth. She was beautiful, and Cade wasn't going to deny it, but he really never saw this girl as being too interested in such an 'exotic' specimen like himself.

"Cade, I'm going to need you to touch up on your spacecraft operational skills, I have the ship coming in from the terminal in a few days and I want you to pilot, just like your dad did." The younger Starwind was unraveling the bandage on his tattoo, contemplating the idea that Jim was feeding to him.

"Pilot the Outlaw Star? Doesn't it need the navigational android to work properly? I'm not going to be comfortable trying to get to Sentinel III on that thing's computer alone if it has no navigational skills."  
A great big grin was all Cade saw across Jim's face again.....it gave him the creeps whenever Jim did that. _"It's as if he's always plotting something..."_

Jim was having a hell of a time getting to know his best friend's son. He found it absolutely fascinating that twenty years later, he was talking to the mini-Gene. Even if Cade's height and strength was greater than that of his father now, Jim couldn't help but imagining a tiny, kid-version Gene Starwind.

Cade was extraordinarily close to his father. They had been best friends. Partners in everything they did. Gene knew from the beginning that having a Ctarl-Ctarl for wife and son was going to be hard for people on Earth to understand, but it didn't matter to him. His family had become everything, and he put the Outlaw aside to make sure they were put first. Cade didn't think he really had a ton to complain about when he would think of his childhood. Aisha had grown much tamer in her maturity. Raising a baby boy had given her gentle maternal instincts, and he remembered the fond times of his mother coddling him as a small child, telling him stories about his heritage from the great Ctarl-Ctarl Empire.

Gene had been very straight forward in raising Cade. Elementary school was hard for the little guy; he was often teased and became the subject of gossip and commentary all through his education because he was so 'exotic." A lot of people had displayed some very racist traits toward their family, and Gene hadn't stood for it. "Bring-Your-Dad-To-School day had always been interesting, because a perfectly normal human adult (although Gene couldn't often be described as 'normal') would show up and support little Cade Aeon. He had always been a tame child, quiet and usually reserved. Aisha always thought it was a backfire, seeing as he had two of the most hot-headed and occasionally reckless people for parents. This entire makeup made for an interesting secondary education. High School was really weird for Cade. He had entered one of the new zoned schools instead of the neighborhood school, and was met with a lot of opposition and commentary from students, teachers and other parents. He caused a stir, but when Aisha had nearly gone postal and was halfway through a beast-form transformation, Gene was able to paralyze her with a stun-shot and settle the matter on nicer terms.

Cade hadn't had a lot of friends so far, except for the 'extended family' that Gene and Aisha had found when they moved back to Earth. A lot of "aunts" and "uncles" who met on the weekends to play cards and eat that week's menu of homemade pies and barbeque. They had taken Cade in as one of their own, and he had been heavily influenced by them. He was now a much more mature adult due to their care for him as a child.

"Cade? Cade!" Thinking back to his present, Jim was waving his hands in front of Cade's face, trying to get his attention. "I need you Cade! You any good with machines?"

"Good enough. What's wrong?" Jim pointed to an old computer panel, it had been pulled out of storage and Rona was rubbing it down with dust cleaner.

"That's the main computer panel for interface with the Outlaw Star, he only answers to Gene's voice though to activate the computer, go turn it on!"

"Jim, if you haven't noticed yet, I'm only HALF Gene!" The blonde didn't seem to care and waved him off to turn on the computer.

"His name is Gilliam, be sure to tell him who you are after you get him activated!" Cade kicked the bulky looking computer box. It clicked loudly, and the screen turned on.

"Voice Confirmation Requested."

"Uhm...Gillian...Gilliam thing?"

"Confirmation received."

A loud beep, and there was a yawning sound followed by a familiar voice for Jim.

"Gene? Hello, Gene. How have you been?"

Cade freaked a little bit, this computer was on first name basis with his father.

"Hello? I'm not Gene. You're Gilliam? You're the computer for the Outlaw Star?"

The machine whizzed a little more, and Gilliam huffed.

"Not Gene? Gene's voice confirmation was received indefinitely. Who is speaking?"

"Cade Starwind. Gene is my father."

"EXCUSE ME!"

Jim talked to Gilliam and fondled the old computer until it agreed to navigate without a bio-droid. The last few days on Blue Heaven we're insanely crazy, and Cade felt overwhelmed. He had been a seventeen year old high school graduate at one point, with a bright future. Now his parents had disappeared, deadly space pirates were using some dark forces to try and kill him, and Rona was determined to scream in his sensitive ears as often as possible, for some reason. He was frustrated, but remained his reticent, stern faced demeanor most of the time he was visible to other people. They were planning to leave the following morning en route to Sentinel III. Jim said there were people there that could help them find what they needed.

3:24 AM, a loud explosion woke the residents of Jim's building. Cade, Jim, and Rona had been the only people inside, and we're in the back office. Jim grabbed his pistol, and tossed the Caster to Cade. The latter male picked up Rona, threw her over his shoulder and ran for life towards the dock where the ship had been parked.

"DAMN PIRATES! THEY CAN'T TIME THINGS ANY BETTER CAN THEY?" Jim screamed over the chaos in the background. A few more smaller explosions and some shuffling told Jim to get the hell out, but he fired a few shots at the moving shadows and kept running.

Rona had been so frightened that she couldn't bring herself to speak, much less engage in any reaction to what was going on. Cade kept his fingers laced around his father's gun, waiting to use the last Caster shell if he needed to. Jim ran all the way to the space dock, and started poking at the computers to get them to turn on and work.

"I'll watch for them, keep your head down, don't let go of me.'

Jim was rolling a screaming Gilliam up the ramp into a space ferry ship. He didn't need anyone to peek over the dashboard anymore, or stand on his toes to see the monitors. Gene and Aisha would have died of laughter, and then of misery if they saw him, because then they would have to realize that they were getting older to.

"CADE, ASS ON THE SHIP, NOW!" The young Ctarl didn't hesitate, carrying Rona in one arm and running into the ship as the ramp was being lifted. He fell over himself, and Jim caught the flying girl as Cade took a nice tumble and rolled across the floor. That would leave another nice scar to compare to his father's. Jim had placed a half-shocked Rona in the nearest chair and pushed the computer panel against the wall.

"WHAT. JIM HAWKING! YOU LIE! WHERE IS MY SHIP?" Jim kicked the box and continued the conversation by yelling at the machine. Rona's wide eyed expression and confusion was to an extreme now, as Cade pulled himself out of the floor, trying to make sense of the past three minutes.

"GILLIAM. You are at liberty to be SILENT, and wait for us to get to the next dock. I've got someone refurbishing the ship now, we'll board it shortly. I NEED you to work with me here, and Cade. Gene isn't around right now, that's our problem. YOU need to help us find him!"

The tiny blue computer capsule in Jim's ferry ship had linked up to Gilliam already, and it navigated all the way down into the cabin and flew to Cade, buzzing in his face, and observing his facial structure.

"You. You are the offspring of Gene Starwind, pilot of the Outlaw Star?"

Cade said nothing, letting Gilliam take in his features and study him.

"However, you are one of the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire. Not human. Gene's son. Not human? Doesn't comply."

"How dare you treat him like an animal or something…you dumbass computer!" Rona hadn't had the time to get to know Gilliam yet…

"Yes. My memory detects another structure in one Cade Starwind. Aisha Clan-Clan. Cade Starwind. Son of Aisha Clan-Clan. Offspring of Gene Starwind and Aisha Clan-Clan!"

Now two people and a computer knew Cade's real identity.

"Even this damn computer can figure it out, I don't think this fact needs to be advertised, Jim."

The blonde shook his head but smiled.

"It's probably not the best idea to go around telling all of your dad's old enemies that you're his son. They'd probably never believe that Gene Starwind already has a grown son, but it wouldn't stop them from toying with the idea and trying to murder you anyway."

"W..Would they really try to murder him? Is it really that serious?" The brunette Asian girl looked seriously disturbed and frightened, and she dove for Cade's arms again.

He blushed heavily as he spoke, but he instinctively pulled her closer to him. "You really don't understand all of this. My father was an Outlaw with enough enemies to overrun Blue Heaven and then Sentinel III. They've been out for his blood since before I was born, and the Kei Pirates of the 100 Sons still haven't forgiven him for stealing their ship. They fear him, and they even fear my mother. I was never in a good spot to begin with, you can turn around and go back now before things get disturbingly ugly."

For a moment, she still looked incredibly frightened and seemed like she would run away. Cade's green eyes were staring into hers desperately, as though he were silently telling her to not leave him, and she snuggled further into his embrace.

"No. No. I won't run. A week ago I was a struggling waitress girl who couldn't pay her bills, and now I've somehow gotten caught up in your adventure Cade. I wouldn't leave if someone begged me to."

Cade felt like he could breathe again, and had exceptionally weird feelings while he held her to his chest. This woman was going to end up causing him emotional problems, and he knew it, but at the moment, he was quite fine with that.


	6. Hide and Seek

"The first guy that got to me back on Blue Heaven said something about the ship being destroyed. Dad never even mentioned that, so what the hell is up?"

Jim was tapping away at his computer while Cade lounged back in a chair, staring at the stars outside the window.

"The XGP is almost twice as old as you are kid, it can't be in absolute prime condition. Gene and Mel put that ship through absolute HELL. But it held up like a stone. The ship was never destroyed. Gene left it here with me and I've been having it refurbished over time, so it should be in peachy working order at least. The grunt was probably just trying to intimidate you."

Rona's head was resting in Cade's lap, and she was playing with the zipper on his jacket. The cloak and gun were hung up on the wall, leaving her feeling a little less apprehensive of this strange young man. She stared up into his eyes, they were especially hunter green today and they looked lost in the window to space. He had a gentle expression on his face, and she found him extraordinarily handsome when he was at peace like this.

"I wish I could understand what it were like to be you, Cade. Its hard for me to imagine what this is like for you." He blinked a few times, his expression unchanging as she spoke.

"It's hard for anyone to understand me, Rona. Most people can't get past that I feel like they do. Underneath all this, somewhere that I'm partly human to."

He looked down at her, and Rona noticed how his eyes were even partly inhuman. They were half-cat eyes, another trait his mother had passed down to him. She had brown eyes herself, her European and Asian background didn't leave much to chance, and she wouldn't have been considered very exotic by any means. Her family had migrated to space before she had been born, and she had grown up on Sentinel III with no knowledge of Earth or what it was really like there. Cade was her complete opposite, he was half non-human who stuck out in a whole universe of people and he had grown up in the most simple place, Earth.

"We're you close to your mother and father? They raised you themselves didn't they?"

He nodded and ran a hand through his hair, smiling at thought of his younger days when he parents attempted to be proper and teach him manners.

_"CADE AEON STARWIND, WHY ARE YOUR CLOTHES IN THE FLOOR? NO PROUD CTARL-CTARL WOULD LEAVE THEIR HOME IN A MESS...!" _His mother had often repeated those phrases in their household. She was young, vibrant, and still short-tempered. Even if she had calmed down to an extreme after giving birth to him, her temperament about the proud Ctarl-Ctarl Empire had never changed.

"_Aisha, what does the damn Ctarl-Ctarl Empire have to do with our son leaving socks by his bed? Seriously? You're going to stress the poor kid out over some weird space-place he's never heard of." _Gene had often tried to be the voice of reason. He was never exceptionally prepared for fatherhood when Cade came along, but he was proud. He was always affectionate towards his son and tried to find some guiding force (in the daily puzzle of parenting) to help him raise a little boy. A half Ctarl little boy.

The two young parents hadn't really known what they were getting themselves into, but they had gained so much more from their first week of bringing Cade home from the hospital than they had by finding the Galactic Leyline.

"Cade? Cade? We're docking in a minute, man the computer for a second, will ya? I'm running to the little boy's room." Jim skipped off like a child, and the younger male jumped from his seat to the control panel, watching the radar screen. Rona followed him like a child, watching him seamlessly roll his fingers across the control panel, navigating a ship like his father had done two decades earlier. The networking panel began to beep loudly, and Jim came running back in a moment later to switch on one of the monitors. An oddly familiar face was on the other end of the video call.

"Well now, you could have let an old friend know what you were up to, James. You knew I'd track the registration number on your ship went you sent out the signal to dock nearby. Why are you coming to Sentinel III, old friend? Where's my pal Gene?" Fred Lou had started to gray a little in the front, and the lines on his face showed how much work he had accomplished in the years between their last meeting and the present. Jim adjusted his glasses and took a small bow.

"You had me figured out, Fred. Long time, no see. I'm glad you finally got to meet an adult Jim Hawking. Care to let us dock at your place? We'll come by have a chat."

The older man on the vidphone gave thumbs up. "Good. That'd be best; I have a couple of old friends for you to hang out with when you get here. Tell that young Ctarl-Ctarl that I could use his help to, when you all come-a-knocking." The call cut, and Jim did a spin on his heel while cheering to himself.

"I always knew Fred Luo wouldn't change. I'll charge you to bring the ship in, , but I'll tell you. He probably pointed you out because he finds you attractive. You were warned! "Cade ignored Jim's weirdness while he listened to Gilliam's landing procedures. The large black planet known as Sentinel III was now in clear view, and soon he would have some answers.

Rona squealed with anxiety while they docked the ship and readjusted to this planet's gravity and magnetism. Cade gently carried her off the ship, following Jim through the slight crowd that was this city. Sentinel III was never known as a New York City type place, it was in the middle of nowhere, but it had grown over the years. The half-Ctarl clasped his father's cloak around his shoulders and pulled a hood over his head as the people began to stare. It wasn't that he was from the Ctarl-Ctarl race, they could surely tell that he wasn't quite one or the other, and that seemed to bother people.

"HEY! Is this thing ON? Can we come in FRED?" Jim repeatedly pressed the buzzing radio outside of Fred's building, until a burly security guard escorted them through the building and up to the apartment where the man was staying. It was upscale, heavily guarded, and made Cade extremely uncomfortable. The guard forced him to give up his father's gun and remove the hood from his eyes. Jim allowed himself to be searched, as did Rona. They entered a sitting room where a 40 year old and still distinctly flamingly happy Fred Luo sat waiting for them.

"Please friends, have a seat. Have my assistant fetch some drinks; tell me where the past twenty years have gone!" His smile was nearly as creepy as Jim's, and the man had a weird glint in his eyes. Cade settled into a couch, letting Rona fall onto his shoulder, clutching him in nervousness. Jim preferred to seat himself opposite of Fred, still wary of the man's advances on them in the past.

"You always joked about how I'd come into manhood, Fred. I guess you get your wish finally. Here I am, seeking you out for help again on Gene's behalf." Jim rolled his eyes and leaned his head back on the chair.

"Hmmm...Gene's behalf? How's that old man doing? Is he around?"

Cade shook his head and propped his feet up on a coffee table.

"No, he's not. He charged me to come find Jim Hawking and yourself. Fred Luo. He told me that you would be able to point me in the right direction."

"So I take it the man got himself into trouble again? Years later, and Gene is still such an adolescent outlaw. What did he do with himself for two decades? Oh well, I would appreciate it if you could inform me as to the trouble he's found himself in. Gene Starwind and I were working business partners when we were young, but he didn't keep in touch after moving to Earth. Is he back on Sentinel III? Could you tell me who YOU are to begin with, you handsome devil?"

Jim almost burst into laughter, and Cade froze in place. His eyes widened, and he almost instinctly placed his arm around Rona's waist to reassure him.

"I can answer most of your questions if that's what you want. I don't know if he's here on this planet, I was hoping you would know. Since you don't, all I can say is what I know. Gene Starwind left Earth two years ago after attacks on his family there. He fled to space to find the source of the problem. Turns out the Kei Pirates have been up to nothing good, and now I've been searching this side of the galaxy for him and whatever this Galactic Leyline is. I ran into Jim back on Blue Heaven, who informed me that he still had the XGP, and could help me use it to find Gene, my father. "

It took a moment or two for to process everything the young man had said to him. His facial expression changed into something unreadable.

"Gene, is your father? Gene Starwind? Assuming that you're a man yourself, you must be the reason we haven't heard from him in almost twenty years. Your mother? Your family? Attacked by pirates?"

"I don't know how you can help me out, but finding my mother and father is pretty high on my priority list right now. He's trying to stop whatever plot the pirates have, and I'd like to be able to help him."

"Your mother must be the strongest woman in the universe. That's really the only explanation for your exotic beauty. What a child. The son of the most infamous Outlaw and the strongest woman alive. I can't give you much to help you out, except financial support. If you are Gene's son, then I am inclined to help you as I would him. I take it the XGP is hidden here, docked somewhere on Sentinel III?"

Jim nodded. "I can summon it up to be finished whenever. Possibly in a few weeks, maybe even a few days if we're lucky. I don't know what happened to Melfina though; she disappeared after Gene married Aisha. Could you use whatever influence you have to find her?"

Now Fred was the one smiling and giggling. Cade was more disturbed. Jim cringed and pulled his jacket around him. Rona snuggled a little closer to her bodyguard and they watched the older man laugh, slightly like a mad man.

"Of course, I couldn't have been luckier for you to ask. Melfina is in the care of a lab nearby. I fund the place and keep a watch on her to make sure she's doing alright. I even have another idea of how I can help you all, but let me get you in touch with the android girl first."


	7. Butterfly

I usually have a policy of one review per chapter, but i'm not too concerned about it right now. I've been dying to get back to the writing over the past month or two. So here is another chapter, it's short, and I apologize for that, but I'm actually not too dissapointed in this one.

Disclaimer : The cute lil halfling character and his flame belong to me, nobody else does though. Outlaw State copyright Funimation Ent.

* * *

The next few minutes were imposingly strange. Melfina had been brought in and she happily chatted with Jim and Fred. They exchanged hugs and Mel couldn't help but be shocked by how she had to look up at Jim now. They laughed and smiled, and had an entirely pleasant visit without ever bringing up Gene.

This lasted for all of ten minutes, until Cade who had stepped out of the room momentarily, came back in and found himself face to face with his dad's old android flame.

"G..Gene? GENE?" The unusually composed woman's eyes widened and teared up almost immediately. She looked distraught suddenly, and broke away from Jim to latch onto Cade's shirt. Rona had been standing behind him, and pushed through the door to grab the other woman and pull her off of him.

"Get off of him you psycho! I SAID GET OFF!" With a fluid motion, she had thrown Melfina nearly to the otherside of the room. Now the other ebony haired woman was screaming. Jim, Fred, and Cade were caught between two screaming females with no idea of how to handle it.

Melfina screamed at Rona for a minute before collapsing onto the floor with tears.

"What are you? You're not Gene. You're not even human. You can't be him! Why do you have his face? Oh why..."

He tried approaching her, kneeling down to her level and making eye contact with her.

"Where is Gene?! Why are you here?!"

"Miss Melfina, please...don't cry on account of me. I'm sorry if I upset you. My name is Cade Starwind. If I can correct you without being rude....I'm half human at least. I'm half human and half Ctarl-Ctarl."

She wiped her eyes and stared up at the near twin of her beloved Gene. She stared at him for what seemed like forever, trying to figure out who he could have been.

"So you...you're just a half-human version of Gene? I don't..understand."

Rona tried interjecting, but Cade held up a hand to quiet her.

"It's okay. I've had to explain to everyone who I am. I can handle one more. Miss Melfina?"

He looked towards the floor, finding it strange to 'admit' to everyone who he was. This woman really couldn't figure it out? She definately couldn't be human then.

"Cade, she's a biodroid. She can't have children, and doesn't naturally associate it to people. You can explain that to her."

"I understand. Miss, I know you knew Gene Starwind a long time ago. When you two lost touch...he moved to Earth. He married a Ctarl-Ctarl woman and...they had a son. I'm their son. Gene is my father, that's why I resemble him so much."

She had no words for him when he told her the truth. She continued to wipe away tears, almost as though she hadn't heard him at all.

" I guess I never imagined Gene having any children. I didn't think....A.. A Ctarl-Ctarl? So you have a mother...she's a Ctarl-Ctarl?" He nodded and looked back at Jim, who was shrugging his shoulders.

"Mel, You remember Aisha, don't you? Aisha is Cade's mother." Melfina helped herself back to her feet and brushed herself off, she was still half crying, sniffling and a mess...but she was discernable now.

"You need my help then, is that why you're here? Gene and Aisha would have never needed help. They aren't here. You need to help them?"

"Right, you got it Mel. We need you to come back to the Outlaw Star with us, is that okay?"

The stange android girl smiled to herself and nodded as she walked past Jim to leave the room. A security guard moved behind her and pressed his thumb into a pressure point on her neck, causing a basic reset and putting her to sleep.

"Right right...sorry for her dramatic outburst. She honestly hasn't had a lot of human contact in a while and I guess today was a bit overwhelming, but you got what you wanted, didn't you?" Fred was still smiling happily as though he had another trick up his sleeve.

"I am getting tired of this game. Hiding my identity from one person but having to introduce myself like a celebrity to someone else, it's annoying." Rona popped up from around his shoulder and smiled.

"You're famous, you know? Doesn't that excite you?"

Cade shook his head and rocked back and forth on his heels.

"Famous? I wish my dad hadn't been so famous. I just want to be normal, and yet I'm already so far from normal that being famous just makes it worse. I'm just glad the general population doesn't know I exist, and hopefully they never will."

With that, Cade turned on his heel and began to walk out of the room. Rona's face fell a little, and she was tempted to go after him, but Jim stopped her.

"Let him go for now girly. I can't imagine what he's been through to get here, and it's probably starting to get to him. Just wait for him, he'll come back."

"I wish he would just...let someone in. He's so introverted most of the time; I can't even begin to understand him."

Fred and Jim smiled in unison.

"He's a man, you see. A young one, but he's going to go through some emotional problems at this stage in his life anyway. Just be there for him, and be sure - absolutely sure of something for me." He let the smile dissapear for a moment and ran his finger down her nose.

"What? Did I do something wrong?" She was sure that Jim was going to tell her to leave him alone or to make sure she could be relied on. She hadn't been of much use on this trip so far, even if it was just beginning.

"Don't lead him on. If you don't mean it, don't give him the wrong impression. He doesn't need that, and I'll be supremely upset if you break his heart while he's going through this ordeal with his family."


End file.
